Beyond the Camera

Chapter 25

Seungmin P.O.V

I sat down in my seat and sighed. Chan sat beside me and Elias was a few rows behind us. Chan wrapped his arm around me and pressed a kiss to my temple. I smiled and played with his ring.

"It's crazy that all of that happened in a week. It felt like months." My words came out in a whisper. He nodded.

"I know." I turned to him.

"Right before I... you know, Jaejun told me something." Chan raised a brow. "Apparently, my dad is still alive." He froze.

"What?" I nodded.

"Yeah. I don't know all of the details but Jaejun told me my dad did it to protect us. I don't know if it is true, though."

"If that's true, then the question standing is where is he?" I nodded. "Are you going to tell Elias?"

"I don't know. Maybe eventually but right now I think he deserves an explanation first." Chan nodded.

"You're mom is going to freak out."

"Maybe, but she owes us that much."

"The plane's about to talk off. Hold on." I nodded and closed my eyes. The first time we got on a plane together, I mentioned something about hated planes. I told him that I would get used to it eventually but even after all this time, he still prepared me. After I told him, he made sure to sit with me every time we had to get on one and never complained when I dug my nails into his arm during rough air. He always told me that he didn't deserve me but the truth was I didn't deserve him. Once we were up in the air, he smiled and pulled out his laptop.

"What are you doing, Chan?" He motioned to his laptop.

"We're expected to have some rough air so I think it will be good for us to have a distraction." He started showing me his new music and asked for advice.

"This is really good. Is it for the new album?" He nodded.

"I was thinking this could be the title track. I haven't worked out all of the kinks yet but it's basically done." I nodded.

"What do you think we should call it?" He raised a brow.

"I'm not sure." He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. I could tell he'd been thinking on it for a while. "What do you think?"

"Pretty?" He raised a brow.

"Why's that?" I shrugged.

"That's what comes to mind when I hear it." He sighed.

"Should it be in Korean or English?"

"Korean. I feel like this song is geared more toward the international fans. They really like titles being in Korean."

"That's what we'll do then. You're a genius, my love." I felt my ears turn red at the nickname. Usually, it wouldn't bother me but we were surrounded by people.

"Yeah, yeah. Are we almost home?" He glimpsed at his phone and sighed.

"We have an hour left." I nodded and laid my head on his shoulder.

"I can't wait to see the guys." He raised a brow.

"Are you going to see your mom first?" I nodded.

"Hey, can Elias stay with us for a while? There's a lot of legal stuff we have to do." Chan shook his head.

"No, we don't. I've already made some calls. Apparently, Elias wasn't legally adopted. He's still a Korean citizen." I sat up.

"What?"

"My dad. It's a long story."

"Are you telling me that my parents never actually gave Elias up?" He nodded. I closed my eyes and sighed. "I'm gonna go check on him." Chan nodded. I unbuckled my seatbelt and walked the three rolls back to where he was. He smiled when he saw me.

"Seungmin, you okay?" I smiled and nodded.

"We're gonna be landing soon. Do you feel okay?" He nodded.

"I feel fine. Don't worry." I smiled.

"I'll go back to my seat then." I went back to my seat. Chan smiled at me.

"He's okay?" I nodded.

"He's fine. If what you told me is true, my mom is about to have the surprise of a lifetime." The last leg of the flight went by fast and we were soon deboarding. Elias was glad to be back on the solid ground. It had been clear to me that had been his first time on a plane. Well, the first time in his adult years. Our manager met us at our gate. He had a lot of questions that none of us wanted to answer. All three of us had committed a lot of crimes in the week we spent in Australia. He wasn't happy about our silence but he soon changed the topic and got us out of the airport. By the time we reached the car, I really just wanted to go home and sleep. I sighed. There were still things I had to do.

"Hyung?" All three of them answered me. I chuckled.

"Hyungnim." My manager hummed.

"We need to stop by my mom's first. I have an urgent matter to talk to her about." He hummed again. The rest of the drive to my mother's was quiet. Our manager hadn't a clue what was going on but the tension was thick and he could feel it. When we arrived, I could tell Elias was anxious. I grabbed his hand and sent a smile to Chan before getting out. Elias stopped me halfway to the door.

"Seungmin..." I shook my head.

"You came all the way to Korea to see her. Don't back out now."

"What if she doesn't like me?"

"Nonsense. She'll love you." There were so many things going through my head at that moment. I knew things were going to go differently than what he imagined. My mom was going to cry her eyes. This was going to be the most emotional talk I would ever have with her. I squeezed his hand and motioned him to go. "It's going to be okay. Just trust me." He sighed before walking again. What I couldn't let him know was that I was just as terrified as him.

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That's it for this chapter. I hope everyone liked it. Thank you for reading. As always. Stay safe and healthy. Bye, lovelies.

-Thea